14 DAY TRIAL // Some of us still remember Turbine Entertainment's very own Asheron's Call, a game defining experience, the first generation heralding what was furthermore known as the MMORPG genre. Years passed and Asheron's Call 2 carried on the legacy of its ancestor. Still, it's never a good idea to support heavy marketing on two titles at the same time. With Dungeons And Dragons Online as well as the Stormreach expansion set released, Turbine is free to focus its undivided attention on the next great thing in MMO gaming, Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.
They've been toiling away at the game for years now. Turbine today revealed that its massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings has entered the alpha stage of development. Since registration opened after E3, in May, more than 100.000 people have signed up to participate in the Beta Program, which includes the Alpha and Beta phases of development. This means that for the first time, a limited number of people outside of Turbine are invited to play the game; creating characters, fighting Orcs, meeting famous characters, and exploring the vast lands of Middle-earth. Due to popular demand, the company added that it will invite tens of thousands more to participate in the months to come.
At this point, Turbine has finalized many of its gameplay features and is working towards tweaking, polishing and bug fixing in an effort to move towards Beta, where they can start opening up the game world to fans. Extensive public and beta testing is a regular procedure in the MMO world, in order to minimize balance issues and filter out glitches before the official release. The game will focus heavily on story and lore but, unlike the highly specialized D&D title, will provide a much more traditional MMO experience. In an attempt to make gameplay more convenient, the world will feature frequent rest stops where players can unload their loot and reequip and also a form of fast-travel that will let them quickly revisit already discovered areas.
Taking into account previous MMORPG knowledge, developers now focus on a more guild-oriented approach to the beta. The aim is intensive group testing and less free promotion with the help of individuals. Turbine does have a rather annoying history regarding beta tests for their previous titles. Each and every time massive sign-ups were received from the community, the trend didn't carry on to subscriptions, once the games hit retail. Although traversing the world of Middle-earth may be one step closer to a reality, Turbine has yet to announce a release date for the game.